


Disappearing Act

by Rainbownomja



Series: Writers Month 2019 Prompts [15]
Category: Fake AH crew - Fandom, Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Abandonment, Achievement Hunter Heists, Alternate Universe - Battle Buddies, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Assassins & Hitmen, But they really could be, Dollface Meg, Fake AH Crew, Fake Character Death, Female Jack Pattillo, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jeremy and Ryan can be read however you want, Meg and Ryan are not actually siblings, Pre-Fake AH Crew, Temporary Character Death, The great painting heist, light Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 23:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20266444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbownomja/pseuds/Rainbownomja
Summary: Jeremy thought Ryan died a year and a half ago. Then news surfaces of a new criminal in Los Santos and her partner sounds awfully familiar.





	Disappearing Act

**Author's Note:**

> Writers Month Prompt: First time (meeting again) 
> 
> Featuring: Dialogue! For the first time this entire month. Real conversations! Friendships! Peril! Wow!

Jeremy, code name “Rimmy Tim”, joined the Fake AH crew a year and a half after the death of his battle buddy Ryan “The Vagabond” Haywood. They’d been the oldest hitman team in their organization for over a decade. Many died, others simply left. But, then a job went wrong, and Ryan died, and Jeremy left and never looked back. 

The Fakes were family enough, but he couldn’t let himself get attached, the wound was too raw. Gavin and Michael would invite him out for drinks after a successful heist and he’d decline to go home to his shitty house and watch whatever rerun happened to be on. Jack offered to make dinner for him but he couldn’t sit at the penthouse table and find camaraderie in them if he wasn’t willing to lose them. So Los Santos remained lonely. 

Until he heard whispers on the streets of a new duo. A woman with masks made of porcelain and six inch heels who didn’t flinch at getting her hands dirty. Rumor had it she took great joy in twirling bloodied knives between her fingers in the face of victims just begging them to test her. But more importantly, she had a man with her, in the telltale Vagabond leather jacket and skull mask. 

It couldn’t be him. Jeremy saw the body. And yet, he couldn’t not follow the lead. Just in case. Each declined invite was no longer followed by a boring routine. He went to bars that were in the know, followed the old trails from the duos recent trouble, killed a couple rival gang members who tried to get in his way. 

One afternoon the crew was sitting in the conference room while Jack went over the plan.

“The Museum is hosting a gala for their private funders. They’re auctioning off some of their old pieces, but that’s not what every crew in Los Santos is interested in.” She said “ Their newest exhibit is for a recently dead Prime Minister, Loretta Turney. One item in particular interests the others, her famous wedding necklace. So I propose while the other idiots we go for something even more valuable.” A picture flashes on the screen of a young woman in her late teens, with perfectly curled dark hair, a wide grin, and thick rimmed glasses. “This is the only known portrait of her daughter, Meg Turney, before the girl disappeared.”

“We get our hands on that baby, her dad will pay anything to get it back.” Geoff interjected. 

“Now, a few of our players have dropped out in the last few weeks. The Cobras, Half the Armenian Mob, and Kkangpae. But word on the street is that we’re going to have a new duo in our midst with the same goals.” Jack finished. 

Gavin went into security detail, how passes were to be distributed and where all the major technological problems were. But Jeremy started to space, the name Turney sounded familiar but he couldn’t place it. It felt like it came along with an old friend but if it was then he’d have remembered her. The Gala was that weekend, which didn’t leave a lot of time for Jeremy to finish his side job. If they duo was only here for the gala then if Ryan was alive, he’d disappear again when it was over. 

The thought didn’t sit well with Jeremy, but the week came and went and he had nothing else to follow up. It was over by all accounts. He tried not to let his sinking depression show although he had a guess that Micheal and Gavin knew by the number of times they invited him to game with them while they waited for evening to fall. 

Jeremy and Jack were on infiltration due to their schmoozing ability, they’d let Micheal in through the back entrance to cause a scene while Gavin ran overwatch and Geoff waited as getaway driver. It was an easy enough plan, except for the dozen other gangs that were also attempting to do similar. Jeremy straightened the orange tie that felt like it was suffocating him. This was the last chance. If it was Ryan, then he had to find him at the Gala. Geoff turned over the driver's seat. 

“Everyone ready?” He asked. “Heist!” 

Jeremy took Jacks hand and led her to the museum, they looked like quite the couple and nobody batted an eye as they entered. Inside it was packed to the brim, and most exhibits were closed off to the Gala. Among them, Jack pointed out the few members around although they all seemed to be alone and at a loss for what to do. Among the sea of civilian faces however, he caught one that was very much out of place. 

“Is that the daughter?” Jeremy muttered to Jack, nodding his head in her direction. She was speaking to the curator, her arm looped around the arm of a muscular man with pitch black hair that couldn’t be natural. Must be her security…

“Looks like it.” Jack replied, then swept her hair away from her ear as she continued to speak. “We might have a small problem here.” Their earpieces crackled. 

“Problem how?” Geoff asked.

“Mrs. Turney is in attendance” Jeremy said. 

“Wasn’t the bird dead?” Gavin hissed. 

“The other one moron.” Micheal growled. 

“She’s likely to be protective of the exhibit if she's here.” Jack said “Keep eyes on her.” 

“Copy.” Gavin said, then whispered. “Get a look at _ her _” 

Jeremy rolled his eyes and they continued on their way, waiting for an opening. The security got distracted by an attendee fainting at one point which allowed them to let in Micheal. All they had to do was wait. 

Then some poor man bumped into him. 

“Did you just swipe my cash?” Michael shouted. The man began stuttering. Michael shoved him. “You trying to steal my bid? Huh?” In turn the other attendees began to turn, whispers rippling through them. A shove turned into a push turned into a punch and then it became a more formal type of brawl. In the chaos Jack and Jeremy could barely hear but moved to slip away.

“Uh guys” Gavin said. No response. “Guys?” Still nothing. “Guys!” 

“What!” Jeremy hissed. 

“The birds gone missing. Bloody disappeared!” 

“Are you fucking kidding me.” Jack muttered, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Just leave her, watch the guards.” 

They slipped into the exhibit and found it largely empty. Except for a woman in a doll mask, and her partner. They already had the painting down and had begun rolling it for a tube when Jack and Jeremy arrived. But that wasn’t what made Jeremy's heart drop into his stomach. 

The duo turned around and it was unmistakable. 

“Ryan?” He said, his throat already starting to close up. The Vagabond paused, as did his partner. 

“You know them?” The woman asked. 

“Only the one.” Ryan replied. 

“Is he important?” 

“Very.” 

Jack said nothing, she blended into the door and held it shut as Jeremy walked forward. 

“I thought you were dead. I saw the body.” He said. “Why are you here? _ How _are you here?” An even better question “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“I-”

“Can this wait? We have maybe another minute before they notice I’m gone.” His partner hissed.

Jeremy blinked. “Who?”

“The curator!” She growled. All at once Jeremy realized who he was talking to. Meg fucking Turney was the doll-faced terror of the city. 

“I’m… so confused.” Jeremy said. 

“Y’all have the painting?” Jack asked. They nodded. “Then let’s get out of here and talk later. We can give you a lift.” 

For some reason, none of them questioned this idea. Maybe it was because Jeremy and Ryan had an air of camaraderie about them. Maybe it was simply that they were running out of time and it didn’t matter. Meg handed Ryan the tube containing the painting and her mask before strolling out the door with some excuse that she had to say goodbye or people would ask questions. 

They met Michael in the alley across the way a little worse for wear but otherwise alive and well. Jack climbed into the van but Jeremy and Ryan stayed away, partially waiting for Meg, partially because they needed the privacy. 

‘I’m sorry.” Ryan whispered. 

“Where did you go? Why. How?” 

“I… got a call from my sister and she needed help. But you know how it is. I couldn’t just leave.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“How could I have known that you weren’t with them still? Word spreads, nothing was private there.” 

“Are you going to leave again?” Jeremy asked, hoping to hide the pain in his voice. 

“I haven’t decided yet.” Ryan replied, his tone getting lower by the second. Jeremy opened his mouth to say something when Meg appeared and grabbed both their arms. 

“Heartfelt reunion later Rye-Rye.” She said.

Jack must have caught Geoff up because when they pooled into the backseat he didn’t ask questions. Even in the penthouse nobody asked questions. They disappeared into thin air leaving Ryan, Meg, and Jeremy in the living room to work out whatever it was that needed working out.

“Call us when negotiations are on the table” Jack called out as the door to her bedroom shut. 

The silence was deafening, until Jeremy finally got his voice back to ask the stupidest question he could probably ask. 

“Why do you need to steal your own portrait?” 

Meg sighed. “It got stolen by my uncle and passed through over twenty museums in the past few years. My dad refused to deal with getting it back and so I’ve been...tracking it down. Alone until it got too dangerous without help.” She took the tube from Ryan and unfurled the painting. What was important to her wasn’t the portrait, but what was on the back. “When my mom painted it she left a letter with it. It’s not anything important ya know? It’s just my mom’s words for me. Not anyone else.” She returned the painting to the tube. 

“So why cause trouble with the gangs here?” Jeremy pressed. 

“Distraction really.” Ryan answered. “Most people would’ve noticed her in town if there wasn’t more important things going on. Plus I heard...they were causing you trouble.” 

“You _what_.” Jeremy could feel rage building in his stomach but bit down on the inside of his lip to keep it there. “So you did know I was here and still didn’t contact me? What the fuck Ryan?” 

“We had a job to do,” Meg said. “if he made contact we couldn’t keep you from getting involved as an unknown variable. Sorry, that one was on me.”

“But we-”

“Your crew as a whole was accounted for.” Ryan said. “Not you as an individual agent. Its basically two different people...” 

Jeremy was silent for a long time. Processing relief, anger, and hurt all at once. He’d missed his battle buddy so much though. In the end it was easy to forgive him, with one condition. 

“Are you going to disappear again?” He asked, his voice trembling despite his best efforts. Ryan glanced to Meg.

“I’ll be honest its more fun to be here than stuck in politics.” She muttered.

“I have no plans to leave.” Ryan answered. 

Jeremy was hugging him before he finished the sentence.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed my work please leave me a comment and a kudos I love to hear from yall.
> 
> Want to keep up to date with my writing? Follow me on Tumblr @AvalonPendragonWrites
> 
> See you tomorrow!


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